Age-grading calculator for runners: How do your race times score?
It can be easy to think that you only have a set period of time to run at your best – and that, once you’ve passed your running peak, you’ll fall behind the pack.
But age doesn’t affect running achievement. No matter how many years you have under your belt, you can use age grading to maintain that competitive edge and measure the strength of your running performance while taking into account both your age and gender. So, with age grading, you can see how your current race times compare with those you attained in previous years, and with those of other runners – even if they are 20 years older or younger than you, for example.
Read on for our full guide on age grading, and use our handy age grading calculator to see how your running performances add up.
What is an age-grading calculator?
An age-grading calculator, like our one below, produces a score for a race time. The score is expressed as a percentage of the world-best time for your chosen race distance, and for your specified age and gender. For example, a 44-year-old woman who runs 5K in 25:00 gets an age graded score of 62.33%.
These performance standards give approximate levels for comparison:
100% = world record
90% = world class
80% = national class
70% = regional class
60% = local class
The calculator also provides an age-graded time for each performance, which is the equivalent performance by a person of the same gender in the open division (which generally goes up to the age of 34). So, using the example above, the 44-year-old woman’s 5K performance of 25:00 equates to an age graded time of 23:41.
How do I calculate my age-graded scores?
Simply enter your age, sex, race distance and corresponding finish time into the fields below and the calculator will automatically display your age-graded score:
Why should I use an age-grading calculator?
If you’re no longer setting personal bests, age grading shows how your current race times compare with those you set in the past. For example, if you set your 10-mile PB at the age of 28, and recently ran a 10-mile race at the age of 54, you can input the data for both races and see which scores higher. You might discover that, although slower in absolute terms, your current times are of relatively greater quality – so, in that sense, you really can get better with age.
You can also use the age-grading calculator to compare recent finish times at different distances to show which performances were best, and to identify your strongest running event.
Another benefit of using the age-grading calculator is that you can compare your performances with those of runners of any gender who are younger or faster than you. Using the information from race results, for instance, you can input the age and gender of those who finished around you to see whose performance was relatively best. (You may even get a little boost of confidence after doing so.) Following a recent race, you could even compare your age-graded score with that of the outright race winner, to see how close you were to them in age-graded terms.
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